Masari Signs Death Penalty Law for Kidnappers, Cattle Rustlers

As part of efforts to tackle banditry in Katsina State, Governor Aminu Masari yesterday signed into law an amended Penal code law prescribing death sentence for cattle rustling and kidnapping.

This is as an Islamic cleric , Abdul Azeez Abdufattah, has advised the federal government to initiate policy that would curb population explosion in the country as it was the only way to curb insecurity currently bedeviling the country.

With this law in place in Katsina, rapists would also be sentenced to life imprisonment in addition to fine and compensation to the victims.

Masari, while speaking at the ceremonial signing of the law, said the law became necessary following the security challenges confronting the state.

The governor affirmed that the law was amended particularly in areas to do with kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape and other related offences.

“The decision to make these offences serious with the above punishment cannot be over emphasised. We revisit the penal and procedural laws to deal with any suspect that may be found wanting.

“It is hoped and prayed that they will serve as deterrence to those that may be convicted. And those that have the intention of committing them,” he explained.

According to the cleric, available statistics revealed that the country’s population was about 210 million, pointing out that it may trigger societal evils except steps were taken to tame geometric population upsurge.

Abdufattah added that the multi-dimensional security threats in the facets of banditry and insurgency in the Northern part of the country would continue to fester and difficult to overcome, if birth control mechanisms were not initiated.

Also, an Islamic scholar and a House of Assembly member elect in Ekiti State, Alhaji Hakeem Jamiu, stated that the country will continue to go deeper into the abyss of decadence without proper attitudinal change.

They spoke in Ado Ekiti on Friday while delivering their respective papers at a Ramadan Lecture organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ekiti Council.

Abdufattah , who spoke on the topic : ‘Ramadan: The Solution to Social, Economic and Security Threat’, said it was disheartening that most of the parents were giving births in the Northern part of the country without adequate care.

The cleric, who is the Imam of Adebayo central Mosque, Ado Ekiti capital city , said : “There must be birth control in the northern part of the country, because the misguided members of the Boko Haram group in Borno, Adamawa and the bandits in Zamfara and other parts of the North are recruiting every day.

“The North has the highest number of out of school children and this was as a result of almajiri culture, where children used to beg around when Allah decreed that we must take care of our children.

“Though, Islam allows you to have many children, but He didn’t say we should have numbers we can’t cater for”.

He said it was wrong for people to have the erroneous impression that Islam is a violent religion, adding that the fact that many of the terror groups bear Arabic names did not suggest operators were Muslims.

“Some of the terrorist groups are named in Arabic like; al-qaeda , ISIS and Book Haram, but if you check their members, many of them are not Muslims. Those who are Muslims don’t practice it.

“If truly they are fighting for Muslims, would they be bombing mosques?”,

Jamiu, in his topic entitled: ‘Moral Decadence in our Society, the Islamic Point of View’, said the level of moral decadence in Nigeria was becoming frightening and disturbing and there must be concerted efforts to tame it.

“The decadence affected all the spheres of our society, including religious organisations and it is affecting our development.

“No country can grow when its citizens are corrupt, indulging in sexual immorality , robbery, financial scam and others . So, we must change our ways and imbibe attitudinal change,” he stated.Read More